Fluid-distributing device.



c, c. THOMAS FLUID DISTRIBUTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED II1AR.I9. 1915.

1,289,303, I Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

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FLUID-DISTRIBUTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

Application filed March 19, 1915. Serial No. 15,598.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL C. THOMAS, a

I citizen of the United States of America, and

a resident of Baltimore, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful'Improvements in Fluid-Distributing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in fluid distributing devices, and more particularly to those for producing sprays, and comprises means for varying the degree of opening of one or more spraying devices, and particularly for effecting such variation of opening from a distant point; also means for opening such spraying devices at the ends for flushing out; also an improved spraying device.

The objects of my invention are to improve spraying devices; to provide improved operating or adjusting means therefor, and to render such adjusting means operable from a distant point; to provide improved means for flushing such spraying devices; and to make the entire device simple, relatively inexpensive and easy to operate.

I will now proceed to describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, and will then point out the novel features in claims.

Figure 1 shows a fragmentary vertical section of a cooling pond provided with a plurality of spraying devices constructed in accordance with my invention, and having adjusting or operating means embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of one of the spraying devices and associated parts, the supply pipe therefor being shown in section.

Fig. 3 shows a side elevation of a plurality of spraying devices of alternative construction, with the associated parts.

Fig. 1 shows a vertical section of the spraying device shown in Fig. 2 and associated parts.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation and partial vertical section of one of the spraying devices, illustrating an alternative construction; and r Fig. 6 is a front elevation and partial vertical section of an alternative form of spraying device, and associated parts.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2 and 4. Nunerals 1 designate the spraying devices themselves which, as shown in Fig. 4, are tubular and are provided each with a helical slot 2 which is directed obliquely with respect to the axis of the spraying device and, in the construction shown, is directed obliquely upward and outward. In practice, these tubular spraying devices are formed of material which is somewhat resilient or springy, and are formed either by winding up into a helix a bar of material of the section shown, or by slitting helically a tube of resilient material. Each of these tubular spraying devices 1- is fitted at one end into a suitable flow connection 3 which is shown, in the drawings, as an elbow connection; and at the upper Or outer end, each spraying device is provided with a head 4, separable from the tube 1, and which, in the construction shown, serves not only as a closure for the upper or outer end of that spraying device, and as a means for communicating pressure to the spraying device, for the purpose of varying the extent of opening of the slot thereof, but also as an end valve for that spraying device; means being provided for raising the head 4: from the tube 1 when it is desired to open the end of the tube 1 wide, as, for example, when it is desired to flush out that tube, to remove sediment or the like which may have accumulated in the tube. The flow connection 3 is provided with a riser 5, connected to a supply pipe 6. For operating the end closure and valve 1, a tube 7 is provided, connected at its upper end to such end closure 4c, and passing through a sliding bearing 8 in the bottom of the flow connection 3 and, beyond such sliding bearing, connected by a pivot 9 to a bell crank 10, itself pivoted to a bracket 11 depending from the flow connec tion 3. The long arms of these bell cranks 11 may be connected, as shown in Fig. 1, to an operating bar 12 extending to the side of the cooling pond 13, or to other convenient point, and any suitable means may be provided for holding this operating bar in various positions to which it may be adjusted. In Fig. 1 I have indicated, for this purpose, that the operating bar 12 is provided with a toothed rack 14 adapted to engage a fixed tooth 15. I have indicated the operating bar 12 as provided with a plurality of apertures 16, in any of which the pivot 17 connecting the long arm of the bell crank 10 with such operating bar may be placed.

It will be apparent that since the spray devices 1 are of resilient material, and are in effect springs, the degree to which they are opened may be regulated by varying the position of the rack 14; with respect to the fixed tooth 15, also by shifting the pivot 17 from one to another of the holes of the operating bar 12. The latter adjustment will be used ordinarily for more or less permanent adjustments, while by shifting the position of the rack 14 with respect to the fixed tooth 15, the degree of opening of the various spraying devices may be changed from time to time. This distant control of the spraying devices is quite important, as it greatly facilitates the adjustment of the spraying devices while they are in operation. By properly moving the main operating bar 12,

also, the end closures 4 may be lifted clear of their respective tubes 1, thereby affording a Wide opening at the ends of these tubes 1, for the flushing out of said tubes.

At their lower or inner ends, the devices 1 may be secured to the flow connections in any suitable way. In Fig. 4 I have indicated the provision of a flanged sleeve 18 fitting within tube 1 and resting on a suitable shoulder formed on the flow connection 3, the end of the tube 1 "being between the sleevev 18 and the side of the flow connection. I This construction is covered in my application Serial No. 864,029, filed September 29, 1914. In Fig. 5 I have illustrated'an alternative construction, wherein the tube -1 is sealed in a socket in the flow connection 3. In this construction the tube 1 will have a spring fit with the sides of the socket of the flow connection 3 (it being understood that, since the tube 1 is a spring, it can be compressed radially slightly, as well as expanded or contracted axially). This spring fit gives a sufiiciently tight fit for many purposes; for example, a fit sufficiently tight for use where the nozzles are to be operated from a distant point, so that slight leakage of the spraying device is not objectionable. Such spring fit also holds the spraying device to the flow connection sufficiently tight to prevent the spraying device from leaving the flow connection when such spraying device is relaxed, and the end of the closure 1 elevated for flushing.

If desired, different portions of the spray,- ing device may have theiroblique slotsQ directed at different angles. This is illustrated in Figs. 8 and 6, whereinthe spray ing devices comprise two tubes 1 and 1, placed end to end, and with their helical grooves pitched oppositely, and directed, in opposite directions. The directing of the oblique slots of different portions ofthe tube in opposite directions is important, in that it tends to createinterference between the sprays thrown from difierent portions of the tube, and such interference tends to break up the spray yet more finely.

' I do not limit'myself to the use of spraying devices herein described in connect-ion with cooling ponds. This spraying device has many different applications; for example, it is well suited for lawn sprinkling,

for irrigation spraying, and for use as a spray fire nozzle.

What I claim is:

1. A spraying device comprising a tubular member closedat one end and having a flow connection, and having in different portions of its walls helical slots each of which, through the walls of the tube, is oblique to the axis of the tube, the'slots of one portion of the tube arranged to'direct spray toward spray issuing from a slot in another portion of such tube, said member being extensible and contractible axially, whereby the width of said slots may be varied.

2. A spraying device comprising a tubular member closed at one end and having a flow connection and provided indifferent portions of its walls with helical slots the pitch of which is opposite and the direction of which, through the walls of the tube, is oblique to the axis of the tube, such slots arranged to project streams toward each other and thereby to produce stream interference.

3. A spraying device comprising two tubular members each provided with a continuous helical slot of a plurality ofturns, the direction of which, through the walls of the tube, is oblique tothe axis of the tube, the pitch of the slots of the two tubes being op posite, said tubes having at their adjacent ends, the one an externally reducedv portion, and theother an internally reduced portion, whereby. the tubes fit together to form, in efiect, a single tube,the combined tube thus formed being closed at one end, and having a flow connection.

4. A spraying device comprising a tubular member closed at one end and having a flow connection, said tubular member being made up of a plurality of tubular sections fitted together at their ends to form a continuous tubular member, and each of said sections being provided with a continuous helical slot, the direction of which, through the walls of the tube, is oblique to the axis of the tube.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscrib- Copies of this patent niayteobtained for five cents each, by addressing the fdom missioner of Patents,

Washington, I). c. 

